In English

LKS, short for ‘Lääketieteenkandidaattiseura’, is a student-governed organization focused on the affairs of medical students in the University of Helsinki. LKS was founded in 1933 and thus celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2013. Besides organizing tons of activities for students, from climbing to wine tasting, LKS promotes student rights and advantages at a local and a national level. LKS also provides its members various services including student apartments.

The Board consists of 7-10 members who are elected every year and is led by the Chairman of the Board. Also a couple of other representatives’, who are not officially members of the Board such as the Chairman of the Committee, the Editor of our student newspaper, and the General Secretary, also participate in the Boards’ meetings and will actively participate in its duties. The Board oversees that students’ voice is heard in the campus area concerning studies as well as in other administrative structures within the University as well as taking care of general things concerning medical students’ lives inside and outside the campus area. The Board also keeps up relations with other medical faculties in Finland as well as other faculties within the University of Helsinki and is participating in organizing different events for students.

The Committee consists of 21 members including the Chairman and 7 vice-members. The Committee is responsible for major decisions within the student organization, such as accepting the yearly budget and granting funds for different projects as well as choosing representatives for different posts. The committees’ term is one year and the representatives are elected during the fall semester.

The Board and the Committee will gladly hear students’ opinions about different matters so feel free to contact us!

If you have any questions concerning LKS and what we have in store for you, you can always contact us via email, or ask your tutors. Information regarding current events and upcoming parties can be found from a weekly newsletter sent to you via email. The newsletter is mainly in Finnish, but there is always a summary in English about all the subjects concerning foreign students. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow on Instagram

There are five medical faculties in Finland, in the universities of Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Oulu and Kuopio. In Helsinki, the Medical Faculty yearly intake is 150 students – 120 students to study in Finnish, and 30 students in Swedish. In addition, 50 students enter the faculty yearly to study dentistry.

Medical education, as all university level studies, is free of charge for the student. Entrance is through an entrance examination, and the duration of the medical studies is 5,5 to 6 years. The academic year runs generally from the beginning of September through May, with a Christmas break of two to three weeks in December.

In Helsinki, the first two years of study comprise the preclinical phase of the medical curriculum. The clinical phase is divided in blocks according to medical specialities and different organ systems of the human body – for example, cardiology and lung disease, neurology, pediatrics, gastroenterology and abdominal surgery. For a more thorough overview of the curriculum, see the Faculty of Medicine website